Fibre to the door -- so what?

[toprob]

I rent an old crappy unit, one of 5, and when I moved in I looked at fibre, as Timaru is almost 100% installed. However as it only went as far as the footpath, I would have had to get permission from all the unit owners, and it would take weeks, if not months to get it installed. So I went for VDSL. The guy who connected it said that it was certainly the best option, as the cabinet was across the road, so speed would be good. I've been very happy with it, even on my PC which connects via a USB wifi dongle, I get 55Mbps down and 25 Mbps up. This was a huge improvement for someone who had been using rural ADSL for a long time:)

This week Chorus have been digging up the shared driveway, so I assume that the new tenants in the back unit have opted for fibre. I've been waiting for this for so long, but now I look at what is available, it seems like a non-starter -- for something similar to what I have now, I'd be paying more. I'm mainly concerned about the upload speed. I know I can go all-out, but it'll cost a lot more.

So I may stick with my VDSL -- it isn't as if it'll slow down as more homes connect, in fact I may end up the only user on the block if everyone eventually goes to fibre! I assume that there's no hurry to quit DSL. On the other hand, with my contract ending in 3 months, I could go to one of the 'budget' fibre providers, and save $20. The real advantage would be that the fibre would come in the front, whereas the VDSL only goes to the kitchen out the back, so I can't connect the PC via ethernet. With fibre I could stick the modem next to the PC. Still, I'm not entirely sure that this would get be as good a speed as my current wifi through the wall...

[jpreou]

I have my PC ethernet connected (on fibre); not sure at this property but in the last one (just around the corner a few hundred metres) I had the wifi modem right next to the laptop. I was on a 30Mbit down plan at the time. On wifi I got 10-12 ... on Ethernet I got 27-ish ... big difference. That seems consistent with other implementations. I always opt for ethernet for PC and laptop (since they tend to 'stay put' and have phone and tablet on wifi. I'm on a faster plan now, iirc, and my PC is literally just a couple metres from the modem (albeit on the other side of the wall); still have it eth connected though, and always will if given the choice.

[toprob]

Yes, I never would have thought that I'd be using wifi, but it hasn't worked out all that bad. The previous tenant worked in IT, I think, and he had rewired the place to suit -- all the phone lines except one were disconnected, including the one beside my desk:( He also put an ethernet bridge through the wall to where his desk obviously was in the lounge, but that doesn't suit me. One day I'll get around to popping the PC through to the kitchen and checking a direct wired connection, to see if it would be worthwhile rethinking the whole arrangement.

[Charl]

Wifi is the fastest component in our broadband setup... ADSL at the end of a long rural copper wire!
We see maybe 5MBit/s down, *just* enough to stream Netflix.

IIR cowpatz had a solution, wonder how that went?
My guy hasn't come back to me about rural broadband.

[cowpatz]

IIR cowpatz had a solution, wonder how that went?
My guy hasn't come back to me about rural broadband.

I went with a company called Bluedoor. A niche provider. Digital link and I have opted for 30Mbs down and 10 up. Capable of 200Mbs (or more if required) but of course comes with a $$$$ tag. Great stable system.

[SUBS17]

Fibre is not that fast, there are too many inhibitors slowing the data, so it is not very good at the moment.